


IQ

by eternaleponine



Series: From the Mouths of Babes [3]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Childhood Friends, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Foster Care, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-08
Updated: 2017-01-08
Packaged: 2018-09-15 15:28:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9241601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eternaleponine/pseuds/eternaleponine
Summary: Lexa has never been to a regular school, so she has to take placement tests to figure out where she belongs.  Clarke tries to reassure her.  Octavia doesn't help.Continues fromFrom the Mouths of BabesandJackson Pollock.





	

"But it's the summer," Clarke said. "Why do you have to take a test in the summer?"

Lexa shrugged. She didn't really want to talk about it, partly because she didn't completely understand it herself, and partly because she didn't want to have to say anything about where she came from, and also partly because Octavia was there so even if she might have been okay telling Clarke about why she couldn't go to the pool with them that afternoon, she didn't really know Octavia and she wasn't sure that she could trust her not to blab about it to everyone. Not that she even had any idea who "everyone" might be, or why she should really care what they thought... but she didn't. It wasn't any of their business, and anyway you never wanted anyone to know all of your secrets, because then they could use them against you. 

But Clarke wasn't just going to let it go. She hadn't known her very long, but she knew that for sure. So finally she sighed and said, "I have to take a test so they know where to put me in school," she said. 

"Won't you just go to our school?" Clarke asked, her forehead furrowing. "Why would you go to a different school?"

"No," Lexa said. At least she was pretty sure that the answer was no. "They have to decide what classes to put me in. Or something."

"Like what _grade_?" Octavia asked, looking up from the little construction she'd been making out of twigs and grass. Lexa wasn't sure what it was supposed to be. "Why would they need to give you a test for that?"

Lexa glanced at Clarke, but she was watching her just as intently as Octavia was, just as curious. "'Cause I've never been to school before," she said. "Not... not like your school." They'd had classes – reading, writing, math, history, the usual subjects (she was pretty sure) – but they'd also spent a lot of time learning things that they wouldn't teach in a regular school. How to survive in the wilderness in different conditions, what foods you could forage that wouldn't kill you, hunting and fishing and trapping... and other things that she'd only just started to learn about – like not telling people your secrets, no matter what – before the police came and took them all away.

"Oh," Octavia said. "Then they'll probably just put you in kindergarten." She grinned. "You'll be the biggest kindergartner ever."

"No they won't!" Clarke said, rolling her eyes and nudging Lexa gently. "They wouldn't do that."

Lexa certainly hoped not. One of the little ones at Miss Becca's was going to be going to kindergarten this year, and he was _half_ her age. 

"They'll put you in my grade," Clarke said, "because we're the same age, almost." Lexa had just had her birthday not even a month before coming here, and Clarke's was coming up in the fall, she'd told her. So they were almost the same age, like Clarke said. She thought maybe going to school wouldn't be so bad if she could be in the same class as Clarke. At least then she would have one friend.

"I guess we'll find out," Lexa said. 

"Lexa!"

She looked up, saw Anya standing at the edge of Miss Becca's lawn, waving to her. "I gotta go," she said.

"Okay," Clarke said. She stood up when Lexa did. "You'll do great," she told her, hugging her tight just for a second, a gesture that Lexa still wasn't used to. "I know it. You can call me when you get back. Maybe you can come over for dinner again." 

"Maybe," Lexa said. "See you."

Clarke waved to her until she was across the street and being pulled toward the car by Anya. 

"Buckle up," Miss Becca said from the front seat. "The car won't go until everyone's buckled."

Lexa knew that wasn't true; she'd been in plenty of cars without a seat belt before, but never here. It was one of Miss Becca's rules that everyone had to be buckled. It was also the law, she said, and if they didn't she could get in big trouble. 

"Wait," Lexa said, as the door shut behind her. "What about Anya?"

"Anya's staying home," Miss Becca said. "There's no reason for her to come along."

"Oh," Lexa said. "Okay." She slumped back against her seat as they backed out of the driveway. She would have liked it if Anya had come, but of course if she was given the choice between being trapped in the car with both of the little kids (Murphy was at summer school; they would pick him up after her tests were done) and being able to have the house to herself, there was no way she was ever going to choose the car ride.

"You'll be fine," Miss Becca said. "Don't worry."

"Yes ma'am," Lexa said, an automatic response because she couldn't disagree with her. She kept her chin up to prove she wasn't afraid... even when they got to the school and a woman she didn't know came and led her into a room and shut the door behind them, cutting her off from the only familiar person in the world.

"Hello, Lexa," the woman said. "My name is Ms. Cartwright, and I'm the counselor here. I'm just going to have you do a few tests for me, if that's all right."

Lexa just looked at her, because she was smiling and saying words that had the shape of questions but weren't really. What if she said that it wasn't all right? What if she just refused? If she did that, would they put her in kindergarten like Octavia said, because they thought she didn't know anything? So she nodded her agreement, because she didn't want to end up in trouble somehow. 

"This first test is timed, but it's not a race. If you don't finish, that's okay. It's just recognizing patterns, and you just fill in the bubble next to the choice that makes the most sense. If more than one answer seems to make sense to you, just choose the one that's simplest. All right?"

"Yes ma'am," Lexa said. She watched as the counselor set a timer that was shaped like a chicken, and she wondered if that was supposed to make kids feel better about taking tests or something. She could have just used the timer on her phone like a normal person, but maybe she thought the chicken timer was more fun.

Lexa waited until she said to start, then quickly began bubbling in the answers. At first the patterns were obvious, but as she went on they got a little harder, and by the last page she wanted to just scribble across all of it, because who _cared_ which one fit the pattern? Why did it matter? What was this supposed to prove? For a few she really felt like she was just guessing... she hoped that it wouldn't matter. She slid the packet back to Ms. Cartwright long before the chicken timer finished, and set down her pencil.

"Are you done already?" she asked, her eyebrows raised. 

Lexa nodded, and watched as the woman picked up the packet and flipped through it like she thought maybe she might have missed a page or something. But all of the bubbles were filled in, and she saw her forehead crinkle into a little frown, but she smoothed it away and smiled again.

"All right," she said. "Next we're going to do a test for language. There's some vocabulary, and you'll just choose the best answer for the meaning of the word, and then there's some reading comprehension where you'll read a passage and answer some questions. Then we'll do a quick spelling test as well, whenever you're ready."

After the language test there was math, and then Ms. Cartwright just asked her some questions about science things and history things, and Lexa suspected from the look on her face at some of Lexa's answers that maybe they had been taught very different versions of history... but they'd told them about that. They'd told them that most people learned one version of things, but the one that they were being taught was the Truth, with a capital T, and they'd better listen up and remember.

Lexa thought maybe that their Truth had been as much of a story as what they claimed that other people were taught in their schools, and the actual truth was maybe somewhere in the middle. But she answered as best she could, and finally after what felt like forever (and the chicken timer didn't help, and there wasn't any clock in the room that she could see) she was told that they were all done.

"I look forward to working with you more this year," Ms. Cartwright said, with that too bright smile that made Lexa's cheeks hurt even though she didn't return it. She skirted past her as soon as the door was open, going out into the hall where Miss Becca was sitting with the little ones, who had spilled crayons all over the hallway and were sprawled out, coloring. Murphy was scowling at nothing in particular, but that seemed to be his default face so Lexa didn't worry about it.

"All set?" she asked Lexa.

Lexa shrugged, then said, "Yes ma'am."

"We'll let you know the results," Ms. Cartwright said. 

"Do you know when?"

"Oh, within the next day or two," she said. "It won't take long."

"Can you watch them for a minute?" Miss Becca asked Lexa. She nodded, and watched as Miss Becca went into the little room with Ms. Cartwright. She came back a few minutes later. "Okay," she said. "Time to clean up and go home and get dinner ready. Who wants to help me tonight?"

Both of the little kids waved their hands in the air as they tossed their crayons haphazardly into the plastic box that contained them, and scooped up their coloring books. Once they were strapped into their booster seats and Lexa was buckled in, Murphy sitting grumpily in the seat next to her, they were back on the road.

"That wasn't too bad, was it?" Miss Becca asked, catching her eye in the rearview mirror.

"No ma'am," Lexa said. 

"I told you you had nothing to worry about."

"Yes ma'am."

Miss Becca looked at her again, and Lexa thought she heard her sigh. She didn't really know what Miss Becca wanted from her most of the time. First she'd wanted her to talk instead of just nodding or shaking her head, but apparently yes and no answers weren't good enough even when you said them out loud. She would have thought that her foster mother would have been glad to have a kid in the house who wasn't in love with the sound of their own voice.

When they got home, Lexa looked across the street to Clarke's house, but she was either still at the pool or inside already. So she went inside too, trudging up the stairs and pushing open the door to the room that she shared with Anya. 

Anya looked up from her phone, which she'd been tapping away on, and pulled one earbud from her ear. "Hey," she said. "You survived."

Lexa nodded and sat down on her bed. She didn't really know what to do with herself, so she just sat. 

Anya looked over at her and sighed. "You know that I'm the teenager here, right? I'm the one who's supposed to be all mopey and broody, not you." She took out her other earbud and set her phone aside, then held out her arm. "C'mere."

Lexa got up and went over to her bed, tucking her feet up as she leaned against Anya's side. She knew that she wasn't supposed to want this, that she wasn't supposed to rely on anyone for anything... but maybe that was another thing like history that they'd taught her that wasn't quite right. 

"Was it horrible?"

"No," Lexa said. "It was okay. Mostly boring."

"Welcome to the wonderful world of school," Anya said. "Get used to it."

**Author's Note:**

> If you want to receive notifications when I post new stories to this series, you can [subscribe here](http://archiveofourown.org/series/626033).


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